The Shipping News: The Year in Slash

Hi everyone. This is Adri coming to you with a month by month slash fandom recap of the year 2013!

January

We started out the year with a great big nod at fandoms from our beloved Chris Colfer during the People’s Choice Awards. A lot of us know the burn of getting snubbed or laughed at for our enjoyment of fanwork, so it was lovely to hear such praise from Colfer.

“It is so flattering to be exploited in your fanfiction. I can’t tell you. It is the ultimate high-five. Thank you to our wonderful fans, the Klainers, the Gleeks, all the names you have for yourselves. It’s amazing to be the subject of your fandom.” – Chris Colfer

February

One day in February we woke up and turned on the radio and then checked our calendars and looked over our shoulders for any signs of a TARDIS. Fall Out Boy? On the radio? What is the meaning of this wonderful madness?

After many rumors and hints, Fall Out Boy had a fantastic comeback. They released a new single and performed on Jimmy Kimmel. Bandom (the musical RPF subsection of fandom) was and still is completely overjoyed. The predicted spike in Patrick Stump and Pete Wentz fanfics is very welcome!

March

In March the romance between the Vh1 Tumblr and, well, us, reached its peak. The Vh1/Backlot or VHot (previously Vhelton) romance on Tumblr was one of my favorite parts of the year, including phenomenal fanart and an abundance of flirty banter thrown back and forth between both sides.

April

In April we were found out by Mark Ruffalo. In an interview with Vulture, the Avengers star was shown some art and other fanwork for the “Science Bros” pairing. This ship is composed of Bruce Banner (played by Ruffalo) and Tony Stark.

His reaction was beautiful, immediately asking whether all of the fanwork was homoerotic in theme and following that with, “I endorse it 100 percent. You know what it is? It’s open-source creativity.” Read the whole article here.

May

This month was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster with Yahoo! buying Tumblr and sending many a Tumblr user into a fit of panic over the future of NC-17 fanfiction (which is fine, by the way), and the team at Saturday Night Live giving Bill Hader a very special (and slashy) send off. In a whirlwind skit that included cameos from Ben Affleck to Anderson Cooper; Seth Meyer and Hader’s character, Stefon, tied the knot!

In perhaps one of the best OTP-becomes-canon moments ever, Meyers gave his usual Weekend Update sign off as, “For Weekend Update, we are Seth and Stefon Meyers, good night!”

June

In June, the world of fic was once again on edge after Amazon’s announcement of their new project with Alloy Entertainment. A publishing company called Kindle Worlds proposes to publish submitted fanfiction for a select group of fandoms such as The Vampire Diaries and Pretty Little Liars to be sold for profit. In case you’re not in a fandom yourself and so not aware, “profit” is pretty much a dirty word in relation to fanfiction. Still, Kindle Worlds represents an interesting experiment, but we haven’t heard much about it since its launch. Perhaps it failed to catch on because of the very strict guidelines for submissions that limit artistic freedom.

July

The thrill of San Diego Comic Con spread through the internet once again! This year, as ever, the slash fandom was not exempt from the wonderful bulk of news and press for almost every imaginable fandom. Tumblr was overflowing with Con pictures of their favorite actors, teasers for new seasons of our favorite shows, and trailers for upcoming movies. All of this, of course, with the adequate amount of spontaneous shipping.

August

Our second annual Ultimate Slash Madness tournament was a complete success! This year we went bigger and better, with twice the pairings in the preliminary rounds! Though there were quite a few fresh pairings this year, in the end it was the slash titans going head to head once again. Returning champion Sterek of Teen Wolf put up a great fight this year, but in the end the profound bond of Supernatural’s Destiel reigned victorious.

Here’s to next year’s tournament; bring your fighting spirit and win the crown for your ship this summer!

September

In September, the Teen Wolf fandom was delighted by the deluge of exclusive interviews and fun FAQs from the WolfsBane Convention in London. The magnificent cast is evidently full of shippers! Reportedly, JR Bourne is the captain of the Stargent, an adorable ship name for Chris Argent and Sheriff Stilinski!

October

This month saw the glorious (and excruciatingly painful, as is the norm) return of Supernatural. The phone call between Dean and Castiel in the season premiere was an absolute hit with devoted shippers (and with casual shippers and with everyone really because it was a wonderful scene). Since the Season 9 premiere, Supernatural has tortured our hearts ten ways to Sunday. Here’s hoping there will be more of our beautiful angel and hunter in 2014!

November

The 50th anniversary of Doctor Who was one of the biggest fandom events of the year! No spoilers (in case you are very, very behind) but the special episode was full of heartbreaking guest appearances and cameos from the show’s history.

It was undeniably brilliant with stellar performances from Matt Smith and David Tennant. No doubt the fantastic chemistry between the tenth and eleventh Doctors will be fueling the Doctor Who slash fandom for ages!

Congratulations, Doctor Who. Here’s to 50 more years!

December

And so we come to the end of this fabulous year, but not without one last burst of slash news! Earlier this month, Welcome to Night Vale co-writer Jeffrey Cranor made a surprise announcement that shook the fandom right up. In the past, Jeffrey himself has provided the voice for Carlos the Scientist, Night Vale’s most beloved citizen (if you were to ask his boyfriend, the show’s main character Cecil Palmer). In his announcement, Jeffrey Cranor talked about how he and co-writer Joseph Fink felt that a Queer Latino character should be voiced by a Queer Latino actor.

For a few days, everything was very hushed about who this newly cast voice of Carlos would be. However, at their most recent live show, all was finally revealed as actor Dylan Marron made his Welcome to Night Vale debut.

This is very exciting news on several levels, especially because I was lucky enough to get the chance to speak with Dylan himself about his career so far, his new role, and a whole lot more. Stay tuned for that, coming next week!

That’s all for The Shipping News in 2013, folks! See you in 2014, and please let us know in the comments what your favorite slash fandom highlights from the past year would be.